3 adults charged in beating death of small-town teenager

LEBANON, Mo. | Three people were charged Tuesday with murder in the death of a Lebanon teenager whose skull was fractured by a baseball bat in a brawl in a city park.

Police said the fight was over text messages to the girlfriend of one of the alleged assailants, Jerry Broyles.

Laclede County prosecutors charged Broyles, 25, and Terry Dunkin, 32, with first-degree murder and Terry’s wife, Kimberly Dunkin, 36, with second-degree murder in the death of Zachary Jones. Broyles and Terry Dunkin have the same mother, police said in a probable cause statement.

Jones, 17, died Monday from multiple fractures to his skull, police said.